Keep Running Home To You
by aanne14
Summary: When Barry faces a meta who is a bit more powerful than usual, he needs to be careful, or he's going to get hurt.


This meta felt different. Barry could feel it. From the moment he locked eyes with the meta he knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight. Cisco had called Barry about a rogue meta who was terrorising people and making them fall like flies around him. Cisco had also said something about a blue flame? Apparently the meta could render you unconscious or even kill you with just a touch of that blue flame. Now that what something scary to be up against. Barry wasn't even sure if it would affect him what with his super healing strength. But when he got to face the meta he knew he had to be careful. "Ah! The infamous Flash has arrived! " the meta shouted at Barry "Here to defeat me, are you?" "I'm here to end your menace in this city" Barry replied angry that this meta thought he could wreak havoc in his city. The meta immediately started attacking Barry and Barry was fighting back, trying to defend himself. This meta moved with insane speed. Almost as if he had superspeed as well. The meta got a few good hits in and was coming at Barry with such force. Barry then threw a punch right at this meta and with that punch, knocked the meta back a few feet. After that, Barry immediately felt dizzy. He felt like the world was tilting ever so slightly and that the world was losing a little bit of its colour. Then, he saw that the meta had a blue flame engulfing him. "That's not good. Definitely not good." Barry thought to himself.

"My my, is the Flash not feeling like himself today? "the meta said to Barry returning to his original form. "Maybe you're not the only one in this town with dazzling powers!" The meta was taunting Barry now. He could feel it. Barry also started to feel a little more light headed just then. Barry tried to run, to go back and get some help, to tell the others what he was up against, but he felt like he couldn't run anywhere. He couldn't even move fast enough. It was as if his body was moving in slow motion. As Barry was trying to make sense of what was happening around him, out of the corner of his eye he saw the meta approach him with insane speed. Speed just like his, maybe even faster. Or maybe it was Barry imagining it. He wasn't even sure if what he was seeing was real. Just then he saw the meta's hand extend and saw a hint of silver. At that moment Barry realised what the meta was about to do but couldn't react in time. Now that was a first. Moments later he felt the sharp blade pierce through his suit and his skin, going right through his side. Not good, Barry thought to himself. Not good at all. Barry scream in pain, but no sound escaped his lips. He tried to lung at the meta but that did him no good either. The world started to spin even more, and Barry felt himself getting closer and closer to the ground. Was he falling? Before he knew it, he felt his head touch the ground and he was down. Just then his view of the sky was blocked by the meta standing over him." And they all fall down. Well, well Flash, looks like you're no match for me. But oh, I'm not going to kill you just yet. I need to get the word out that I am the greatest villain that Central City has ever seen!" The meta kept boasting. "The world needs to know of Cobalt Blue!" The meta finally had a name. Cisco would not be happy with that. "Oh, dear Flash, you haven't even begun to understand who I am. What I'm here to do. Where's the fun in killing you right now? Nah, I'm just going to mess with you for a little while. Besides, Barry" Cobalt Blue said, with such emphasis on 'Barry'. How did he even know Barry's name? "You'd think you'd want to meet the rest of your family, right?" After saying those words Cobalt Blue took off and left Barry alone.

Barry tried with all his might to stand. "Hey guys?" Barry said into his comms,"I don't feel so good. Got stabbed by that flaming blue guy who…" Barry began to say but he realised he wasn't talking to anyone. His comms must have been damaged in the fight. Great, just great Barry thought to himself. Now what? Barry felt like he had a little bit of strength in him so he tried to focus all that strength on running. And he focused it on the one place that started to feel like his second home and he just ran. He ran and ran until he saw the Star Labs building. Running must have taken a lot out of him because as soon as he saw Star Labs his body began to give out. He felt so weak in that moment that he didn't even know if he made it into Star Labs because his world started to go black and that was the last thing Barry remembered.

"Cisco, where is he?" Iris asked Cisco voicing out everyone's concerns in the room. Cisco looked like he wanted to cry. "I don't know. I really don't know. Last I check he was a few blocks away trying to defeat this meta but then his comms went dead and a few minutes later his GPS tracker was malfunctioning. It said he was running all around the city. But that doesn't make any sense at all." Everyone in the room looked really worried. Caitlin was about to suggest they go out in the van to look for Barry, hopefully nothing bad had happened to him but Cisco suddenly shouted "Wait! Guys! His signal stopped. It looks like he's…" Cisco faltered for a second "….in Star Labs?" Joe looked really puzzled "But he's not in here with us? Unless...unless he's somewhere in the building and he's hurt! Everyone spread out and look for Barry!" Joe barked at everyone, immediately feeling like something bad had happened to his son. Joe was beginning to really worry. Central City needed The Flash, but Joe needed Barry as well, hell they all did. Everyone rushed out of the control room and went in search of Barry.

Among all the people out looking for Barry, Iris was probably the most worried of them all. She was freaking out to say the least. Iris was looking everywhere for him when she was ready to give up. She decided she needed to step outside to calm down. Barry would be fine, she told herself. Barry can take care of himself, he'll always come back to her. Besides he might just be fighting off the bad guy and could be perfectly safe. Well, as safe as you can be fighting off a bad guy. She took one step out the front door and froze in her steps because there a few feet in front of her lay Barry Allen, her Barry Allen. He looked so pale and was that blood coming out of his side? "Barry!" Iris ran to Barry and took of his mask. "Barry can you hear me?" Barry didn't exactly answer her question but a low moan escaped his lips. Iris quickly whipped out her phone and called Cisco to tell him that she had found Barry. Within seconds Cisco was down along with the others to get Barry to the infirmary.

Barry could feel himself moving. My friends must have found me. They must have known where I was. Barry thought to himself. Barry couldn't even remember how far he'd run or where he was right now. He knew he made it pretty close to Star Labs, but did he run all the way in? The air felt colder right now. He tried to open his eyes to see who it was, but his body wouldn't respond to him. He heard voice talking in hushed but worried tones. Was that Cisco and Iris talking? They sounded very concerned. Well maybe Barry was worse off than he thought he was. Barry decided that if his friends had already found him, he must be out of harm's way and could relax a little. The pain in his side was growing stronger by the minute. Just then he felt strong arms pick him up and carry him into the building but moving was so painful that Barry couldn't help but cry out. Everything hurt right now. He couldn't even think straight. That blue flame must have really been something else. The pain was becoming too much for Barry and he started feeling himself drift out of consciousness. Within a few seconds, Barry's world went black.

When Barry cried out in pain. Everyone stopped for a second. Joe looked down at Barry and felt bad that he was causing him more pain. "Sorry Bar, but we gotta get you back up" Joe said to Barry who he was pretty sure was unconscious at this point. That was not good. They rushed up and got Barry set on the infirmary bed. Caitlin got straight to work assessing Barry's condition. She was barking orders at Cisco and Wally so that they would help her. They'd seen Barry hurt before, but not this bad. This felt like Barry was drained of his energy. Who even was this meta? Was the meta going to come back for Barry? Caitlin pushed all these thoughts out of her mind and focused on keeping Barry alive. "He's got a stab wound to the lower right abdomen" Caitlin said to the others. "I don't think it's affected any major organs, but it's definitely caused a lot of bleeding. I really wonder what this meta did to Barry" Caitlin wondered out loud. Barry's vitals were all over the place. It felt like a bit of the speed force was taken out of him and his body didn't know how to react to that. "I'm going to tend to his side, because whatever did this was a pretty nasty blade to begin with. Caitlin got to work mending Barry, and everyone around just stood and watched, praying that Barry would be okay. Barry lost quite a bit of blood and was looking about the same colour as the sheets on the bed. But Caitlin was doing her best to save her friend and to get his vitals back up to normal.

Barry woke with a start and then immediately regretted waking up like that. He fell straight back onto the fluffy pillow. Where was he? The memories of what happened before were a little foggy. He was…fighting a meta? Oh yes…Cobalt Blue. "The Streak lives to see another day!" Cisco exclaimed running up to Barry's side. Behind him, Caitlin, Wally, Joe and Iris followed, with smiles on their faces, knowing that Barry was awake and well. "Dude when we found you…. it was intense." Cisco started rambling on about how Barry's vitals dropped so low and how they were all so worried about him and how they fixed the gaping wound in his side. That explains the pain in his side, Barry thought to himself. His side felt bad, but it only felt like a dull throb now. Dull but painful throb. "So, tell us man. Who were you up against?" Cisco asked starting to sound curious. "Your comms were down the entire time, we didn't know what was happening" Barry sat up a little, ready to tell the story. "Well it was this guy, called himself Cobalt Blue…" Barry started but was interrupted by Cisco "What? You mean the bad guy already had a super awesome name? Cool!" Cisco said being a bit too excited at this point. "Sorry, bad meta, do go on" Barry chuckled a little and continued on "He had this blue flame that was sort of engulfing him? I don't know man, the moment I threw a punch at him, I felt like the energy was being drained out of me." Barry said remembering his encounter with the meta. "And then he stabbed me in the side with a Sword? Or a knife? I think it was glowing blue as well. I couldn't really see. But he said something really disturbing after that" Barry paused to catch his breath before saying "He said my name, and he said that I would want to meet the rest of my family." Barry said and then looked at all the shocked faces in the room. Everyone was stunned. Had The Flash's secret identity been revealed somehow? Did Barry have some family that he didn't know about? "But how could he have known who you were?" Iris asked beginning to feel very worried for Barry. "I really don't know but I'm just glad I managed to make my way back here and you guys patched me up. Thank you." Barry said to all of them. "Really, thank you, I don't know what I would do without any of you." And he really didn't, He didn't know where he would be without all of them, how he would survive protecting Central City. "Now, about this meta, I really think we need to get to the bottom of it" Caitlin said. "Yeah man," Wally said "can he like steal your speed or something? Should I be worried about going up against him?" If this meta really meant what he said, this would only be the beginning of Barry's problems. "Hey guys," Iris said a bit annoyed "Why don't we let Barry rest for a bit before we start discussing all this okay?" Iris turned to Barry who smiled in relieve." Thank You" Barry mouthed to Iris. He was definitely feeling much better but hey, even Heroes deserve a rest every now and then right?


End file.
